The Numbers
Gorham had a record turnout of 75 percent in the 2020 Presidential Election with 11,238 people voting. 8,029 people voted by absentee ballot, more than twice as many (3,960) than those who voted absentee in 2016. The total vote count in 2016 was 9,947 or 73 percent of Gorham voters.
Maine permits voting by mail as well as in person prior to Election Day. Voters are not required to give a reason for early voting or for requesting an absentee ballot. More than 75 percent of the voting age population cast ballots in Maine, a record with more than 800,000 votes cast.
The Absentee Process
Processing returned absentee ballots is done by ensuring the ballot was returned by the person who requested it, then comparing the name on the returned ballot envelope to a list of names of who had been sent ballots. Envelopes are opened by town staff, and ballots removed. State and local ballots are separated and fed into the same voting machines used at the polls. The workers processing ballots may know who voted absentee but because they are opened by a third party, there is no way to associate names with ballots. Once the ballots are sorted to separate those specific to the State of Maine and the Town of Gorham, they are unfolded and fed into the voting machines. The actual ballots remain locked in the machines until Election Day. Absentee ballots are opened in the back of the Town Council Chambers by town employees and residents while early voters are also there voting in person.